Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the country. As states move to legalize marijuana, it is time to at least reduce sentencing for non-violent marijuana arrests. Legalization would help reduce inmate populations, and help to raise much needed tax revenues.

I am invested in Baltimore because it is my birthplace and my life's strong foundation. Thus, I come with authority that we cannot allow the Maryland General Assembly to continue to drag its feet when it comes to police reform, or people like Freddie Gray will continue to pay the price for their delays. Governor Larry Hogan recently signed a bill into law that created a commission to study the use of body cameras by police. Now you can also become a real part of the solution by signing this petition to demand that all Maryland police officers be mandated to wear body cameras.

State Correctional Institute-Greene inmates have been on a hunger strike since 5/16/2015 due to staff mistreatment. There are good and bad staff within any establishment. We request a thorough investigation to remove the corrupt ones, who support: 1. Illegal gang units without a policy or funding from Department of Justice. 2. Unwarranted investigation in which an arbitrar denies prisoners procedural due process involving their confinement. 3. Housing prisoners on administration custody status pending so-called separation transfer as a way to keep prisoners locked down on A.C. status for months on end. 4. Tampering with inmates' outgoing and incoming mail, which violates D.O.C. policies and procedures as well as constitutional standards. 5. Violating of D.O.C. code of ethics on many aspects arranging from falsifying reports etc., 6. Denying prisoner’s property such as basic life necessity upon their arrival to RHU. 7. Denial of eye glasses to prisoner with severe medical condition involving their eyes while in RHU. 8. Destruction of prisoner’s legal property and personal property which interferes with prisoners appeals. 9. Improper screening process of potential C.O.'s

In a historic and momentous vote, the Nebraska Legislature voted 32-15 on Wednesday, May 20, 2015, to repeal the death penalty, but Gov. Ricketts has vetoed the bill. Enough senators voted for the bill to override the governor's veto if they all stand together. Let's thank the senators for their vote, and urge them to stand firm for justice, by overriding the veto.

My brother was severely malnourished on his release and most other inmates that have stayed more then 4-5 months are also.

I am starting this petition because I am an opponent of the death penalty. At a time when public opinion across the nation increasingly trends toward eliminating the practice, let's send a signal that here in Nevada we're moving past an eye for an eye.

The death penalty doesn't deter crime. Many innocent people are exonerated from death row due to "mistakes" made in their cases, or by corrupt investigators. I do not want to be responsible personally for an innocent person being put to death, and I do not want my tax dollars spent on a new gas chamber in Las Vegas. More background is here: http://lasvegassun.com/news/2015/may/18/lawmakers-split-funding-new-execution-chamber-ely/

I listened to Brian Stephenson's recent TED talk. He is a lawyer who defends children who are accused of a crime. Judges apparently feel free to charge children 14 and 15 years old as adults in their courtrooms. This is a dreadful distortion of justice and damages these children for life. They are even given life imprisonment. Children are just learning responsibility in their teenage years and their brains are developing. In no way should they be held responsible for crimes as adults.

www.gavenwilson.com

63 year-old Mr. Henderson is suffering from a laundry list of medical conditions including HIV, hepatitis C and internal bleeding. The Parole Board believes that Mr. Henderson turned his life around and would be a great asset to his community. However, Gov. Beebe refused to commute Mr. Henderson’s sentence contrary to the Parole Board’s unanimous recommendation. Mr. Henderson should not die in prison. Gov. Hutchinson should right this wrong.

cps wrongfully seperating my family. eight months into this battle and loads of severe trauma due to this ordeal later and we still have not been reunited as a family. 3 children, 3 different homes. how can this be happening?

In a country that cherishes freedom, rights, liberty, and the Constitution, to say that our justice system "is not perfect" is an insult to the Founding Fathers who left us so much to build upon. The truth is our judicial system has been broken by decades of unfair public policies and unjust laws aimed at targeting certain segments of our population, criminalizing poverty and mental illness, using the courts to collect revenue to fund government budget, filling the bank accounts of prison corporations, and tube-feeding the failed war on drugs, which has turned our law enforcement personnel into military police, and our country into an occupied territory. This bill was first introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature in 2006. It has been re-filed in the 189th Legislative Session, and will be scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee before the end of the legislative session in July 2015. After I accompanied someone in the Lawrence District Court in Massachusetts and observed various abuses and misuse of the judicial process, misapplication of the law, improper and unethical conduct by court personnel, and flagrant violations of defendants' rights, I decided to investigate these problems further, and it was not without some personal costs. When I wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper, he contacted me and indicated that the average grade level in reading for the area was grade 6. Over the years, I also discovered that, in addition to being uneducated, a rather large number of the people who are ensnared by this broken system are primarily of minority backgrounds, Caucasians living in poverty, and the mentally-ill. Finally, those who are involved with substance abuse are disproportionately represented within the criminal justice system. In reality, our judicial system has become predatory. Over the years, government officials have relied on the Court to handle a multitude of societal ills that have been left to fester by political malpractice and official neglect, leading to the absence of sound social policies to address these very solvable problems. In many instances, the criminal justice system is used as a mill to feed the prison pipeline with non-violent offenders, even with people who are accused of crimes--real, made up, or imagined, and yet are coerced into accepting guilty pleas and probation resulting in hundreds of dollars in Court fees, many times as a result of being ignorant of the law, unaware of their rights, as well as incompetent representation by overworked and overwhelmed public defenders. We are better than this as a people and can do better as a country. The time to correct this course is now. And it can only be accomplished through a vigilant legislative body with the help of an executive branch that is willing to bring about change to improve life for the people. This level of accountability can only be achieved through an independent body made of citizens of the State. Let Massachusetts become, yet again, a model of citizenry and public confidence in government by signing this petition to the Massachusetts Senate Judiciary Committee and Governor Charlie Baker in support of this bill. AS OF 2:00 PM TODAY MAY 12, 2015, THIS BILL HAS MOVED TO THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE WHERE A PUBLIC HEARING WILL BE HELD BEFORE THE 9-MEMBER PANEL. THE BILL IS NOW ONLINE AND CAN BE VIEWED AND TRACKED AT: MALEGISLATURE.GOV. YOU CAN HELP BY SIGNING THE PETITION AND BY CALLING: MA Senate President Stan Rosenberg at 617-722-1532 or the Chair of the Judiciary Committee Senator William Brownsberger at 617-722-1280 or email: [email protected], or call Gov. Charlie Baker at 617-725-4005. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND PLEASE FORWARD AND SHARE THIS PETITION ON SOCIAL MEDIA AMONG YOUR NETWORK. WE NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK!